CNN’s longest-running show has been canceled. Brian Stelter’s “reliable sources” has been taken off of the network, and with it, Stelter has lost his job.
The Daily Caller reported, that CNN President Chris Licht informed the host of the upcoming cancellation Wednesday. The Sunday show, the longest running on CNN, will end on August 21.
The show has been running for 9 years and in that time Stelter has become a very controversial figure.
Stelter said in a statement, “I’m grateful for my nine years with CNN, proud of what we accomplished on Reliable Sources and so thankful for the viewers who tuned in every week for our examination of the media, truth, and the stories that shape our world. It was a rare privilege to lead a weekly show focused on the press at a time when it has never been more consequential. I’ll have more to say on Sunday.”
The show’s team will have the opportunity to re-apply to work at CNN but it’s unclear if this includes Stelter himself.
According to reports, Licht aims to give CNN a new direction, a more middle-grounded tone. This puts partisan hosts like Stelter and Jim Acosta in danger.
Licht became CEO after Jeff Zucker resigned from the role due to a scandal involving relations with the former Chief Marketing Officer of the company.
One CNN insider had this to say about Stelter and his refusal to cover the Zucker story, “He is allegedly our top media reporter, yet he failed to report on the scoop that everyone in the office knew. And if he wants to say he didn’t know, he is truly terrible at his job. He’s been Jeff Zucker’s water boy for years and no one believes he didn’t know about all of this.”
It seems that in recent years CNN has been dropping executives and anchors like flies. Chris Cuomo, Jeff Zucker, and now Stelter. Even the CNN+ streaming service was dropped entirely, causing Chris Wallace from Fox News to lose his new job.